Granaries on stilts (horreos, cabazos and other barns): the lost art of building with nature

Medal/Award in the category Research in the year 2013.

Dating of the building: 16th - 20th century.

Applicant: Javier Fernández-Catuxo García.

Reason for the award :

The Jury was impressed by this study that successfully recovers the rapidly disappearing art of designing and building granaries on stilts in northwest Spain.

This study, which has given rise to the book Supra Terram Granaria, investigates what is, assuredly, the place in the world with the highest number and variety of granaries, Galicia and Asturias.

This work is the result of an investigation on a territory of more than 2,500 km2, with more than 5000 barns documented, many of them now missing.

This territory (area and intersection of the Galician and Asturian granary) is, assuredly, the place in the world with the highest number and variety of granaries. That makes it an exceptional laboratory for this type of study. The hórreo is a centuries-old construction that (drying capacity, internal thermodynamics, wind uptake, etc.). Ethnographic data of all kinds gathers all the tradition and knowledge accumulated in Europe over centuries. This knowledge includes the work of wood, stone, the natural environment, and the products from the field.

The research has two aspects: a geographical one, in which the different types of granaries have been exhaustively mapped and documented and another angle, in which the functional characteristics of the barns have been studied with theoretical and experimental models related to the construction of granaries and their use. The work has culminated in the publication of a book (Supra Terram Granaria) in which all this information is compiled.

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